Gilt buyback hit by low demand

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Investors' willingness to sell long-dated gilts to the Bank of England fell to its lowest level for long-dated gilts since it started its asset purchase scheme in March. The central bank yesterday bought &pound;3.44bn of government debt, but was offered &pound;5.191bn of gilts at the reverse auction, equivalent to an offer-to-cover ratio of 1.51. The buyback operation was the first since Standard &amp; Poor&rsquo;s revised down its UK credit rating outlook to negative from stable.